


Time Is An Illusion

by Doomkitty25



Category: The Magicians (TV)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Canon-Typical Violence, Developing Relationship, Established Relationship, Future Fic, M/M, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2020-03-06 16:37:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18854890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doomkitty25/pseuds/Doomkitty25
Summary: In which Quentin wakes up in a different time and place with no idea how it happened and confused beyond belief.





	1. Forward in Time

Quentin snuggled his face into his pillow and breathed in deeply. Something smelled freaking amazing and he had no idea what it was, but he wanted to drown in it forever. He rolled over and pulled the covers higher up to his chin. He felt a warmth at his side, and realized abruptly that someone was lying beside him.

His eyes popped open and he was almost afraid to turn his head. He couldn’t remember the night before, but he was pretty damn sure he hadn’t brought anyone back to his room. Slowly he opened his eyes and turned to look beside him. Oh he thought, it was just Eliot. He sighed with relief, he hadn’t crawled into a strangers bed thank god. He’d only been at Brakebills for just under a month, he didn’t need the drama of a one night stand. He had zero idea why he was in Eliot’s bed specifically, but he was safe and nothing had happened. They were both shirtless, but Quentin knew they’d just slept the night before, Eliot didn’t see him that way.

Smiling as he looked around, he muffled a giggle, Eliot was such a disaster. Clothes were on top of everything, and he had books piled on the floor and on his desk, but the man himself always cut a polished image. Quentin had never been in his room before, but what little he knew of Eliot, this seemed to fit him perfectly. Polished on the outside, a storm on the inside.

He turned onto his side and looked at Eliot sleeping beside him, he took the time to observe him because he was always moving about. Eliot was the most mysterious and mystifying man Quentin had ever met, but here in his bed sleeping in the early morning light...he was quiet and peaceful. Quentin couldn’t figure out exactly what made Eliot befriend him, but he was incredibly grateful. He and Margo were just so damn vivacious, that energy did something for Quentin that he wasn’t sure they understood. It kept him grounded in a way that even Julia had never done. Quentin closed his eyes with a smile, and happily went back to sleep.

He couldn’t tell you how long it was after that, but Eliot was apparently feeling frisky, because he slid his hands across Quentin’s chest and wrapped his lips around Quentin’s nipple. Quentin not knowing what he should do, squeaked out Eliot’s name in a gasp. He watched the grin appear on Eliot’s face so clearly he was awake, but Eliot didn’t stop. He draped his long leg over Quentin’s and slid his long body fully on top of him.

“Eliot what are you doing?” Quentin asked with confusion.

Quentin watched Eliot cock his head to the side and he brought his hands up to cup Q’s face, “You darling, obviously.” Then his mouth descended and he proceeded to kiss the hell out of Quentin. He opened his mouth and slid his tongue into Quentin’s mouth with a deep groan. Quentin leaned into the kiss, god Eliot was good at this he thought. He had to wrench himself out of the pleasure of Eliot’s mouth, he pushed him back and gasped out “Stop, Eliot, Jesus.” It took everything in Quentin to pull back. Eliot was amazing, but this was coming completely out of nowhere. They were not this kind of friends, if he let Eliot continue he was going to get his damn heart broken. 

Eliot’s face scrunched up in confusion, “Q baby what’s wrong?”

Quentin’s eyes bugged out, “Since when do you call me baby, or kissing or, or what the hell?” Quentin pushed himself back from Eliot while Eliot sat up and ran a hand over his face.

“What the fuck Coldwater?” Eliot snapped his expression thunderous.

Quentin slid off the bed and started looking around for his clothes. He had no idea what the hell was happening. His clothes were nowhere to be found, he turned around and looked at Eliot sitting on the bed, complete confusion on his face. “How did I even get here? I don’t remember anything from last night.” Quentin watched Eliot get out of the bed and start pulling on clothes.

“Well get dressed.” He snapped in Q’s direction.

“I don’t see my clothes.” Q said quietly, turning in on himself and brushing his hair from his face.

Eliot turned around around abruptly, and snapped  “Quentin they’re in the damn drawers and hanging in the closet, where they have been for the past year.”

Quentin fell back onto the bed, and started to panic. “I’ve  _ been _ here less than a month, I just met you.” Deep breaths in and deep breaths out. What the everloving fuck was going on. He put his hands on his legs and squeezed, he needed to…

Eliot was suddenly in front of him crouching on the floor between Quentin’s legs. “Q, breathe.” he commanded. “Look at me and breathe. Everything’s going to be fine, we’re going to figure it out, but I need you to calm down okay. Can you do that?” he asked softly.

Quentin looked into Eliot’s eyes and for some reason that was enough to settle his nerves. “Yeah, yeah I can do that.” He whispered slowly and quietly.

Eliot nodded at him, “Okay close your eyes and settle.”

Quentin did as Eliot said, and noticed that Eliot was massaging his hands trying to get him to un-clench them. Strangely enough, it wasn’t bothering him, he was actually starting to feel better. Usually Quentin didn’t want anyone touching him, or hell even in the room with him when he was freaking out.

“You with me now Q?” Eliot asked.

“Yeah, I’m good. Do you know...what...I mean...?” Quentin asked.

“Shhh Q it’s okay. Now that I’m actually looking at you, I’m thinking we have some timey wimey issues. Your hair is shorter, your tattoo is gone, and lets just say older looks really good on you Q and I kind of miss it.” Eliot said with a smirk.

Quentin eyes snapped wide open. Timey wimey. Time travel. He was time traveling. “Tattoo, what, oh god. What the hell?” Eliot stood up and went to his bedroom door, wait Quentin thought. Eliot said Quentin’s clothes were in this room. Eliot’s clothes were in this room. Was he in a relationship with Eliot? He wanted to laugh. This had to be some alternate universe, dream magic, bullshit. In no universe would Eliot date him. So consumed with trying to figure out if Eliot really had been into him and they really were together, he barely heard Eliot shout down the hall for Alice and Julia.

Then his eyes got even wider, Julia was here at Brakebills, but she hadn’t got in? Had she? Was he going insane. He was pretty sure he was going insane. Quentin dropped back onto the bed so he was lying down. The smell from before enveloped him, and he pulled one of Eliot’s….or no rather one of  _ their _ pillows over his face. They had pillows. Together. The smell on the pillow was Eliot’s cologne and Quentin’s shampoo. Christ he thought.

“Q, sugarplum, love of my life. Put your fucking clothes on before Alice gets in this room and I’m forced to murder her. Hm.” Eliot said while he was tossing items of Quentin’s clothing on the bed.

“Why would you murder Alice? Also is it the same girl who got placed in the physical cottage with me?” Quentin asked as he started pulling on his clothes. As he pulled his shirt over his head, he looked over at Eliot and paused. Eliot was staring at him, his mouth slightly open then he stumbled back a bit into his dresser.

“You don’t know who Alice is?” Eliot raked his hand through his messy curly hair, and Quentin shrugged. “I mean yeah if it’s the blonde girl who doesn’t talk to anyone and helped me get through the door to this place, then yeah I know who she is. I’ve literally been here for like 3 weeks. Classes just barely started. You, Margo and Penny are the only ones I really know.”

“Why aren’t you freaking out more about being in bed with me Q?” Eliot asked, clearly confused.

He didn’t get a chance to reply before Julia and Alice came through the door. Julia gasped and Alice’s face went tight with something that looked almost like anger, but Quentin couldn’t really tell. 

“Oh my god, Baby Q, you’re actually here!” Julia exclaimed. 

Eliot swung around to look at Julia, “Are you fucking telling me you did this shit on purpose?” Eliot had pushed himself off his dresser, and stalked his way towards Julia. Quentin didn’t know what was going on, but he could tell Eliot was 3 seconds away from unloading on his best friend, so he stepped between them. He didn’t know Eliot very well, but he knew he wouldn’t actually hurt him even as pissed off as he was.

“Calm down drama King, you know it’s not permanent, also what the hell do you mean what spell? Kady, Margo, Alice and I cast the spell yesterday.” Julia said calmly giving Eliot a curious look. Quentin turned so his back was to Eliot and he could look at Julia directly. Sure enough she was definitely older. There was something in her eyes that his Julia didn’t have. He looked over to Alice and it was the same. The Alice from his time was quiet and unassuming, this Alice gave the impression she could crush you under her boot heel. Power radiated off of both of them.

“I fucking swear to christ, what spell and why?” Eliot said clearly exasperated. 

“We said it would only last 24 hours, we’re experimenting with how time travel impacts future timelines. Whether it breaks the line or they merge. What with the time loops we want to empirically study the impact. The two of you are statistically the least likely to alter or impact the timeline by seeing one another before you’re meant to.” Alice explains in her head Librarian voice.

Quentin didn’t have to turn around to know that Eliot was about to fly off the handle. He could feel it. “You guys thought it was a good idea to cast a spell on me and Eliot without asking us?” Quentin asked quietly before Eliot could blow up.

Julia’s eyes went wide, and her mouth dropped open. “But you were supposed to know. Kady didn’t track you down yesterday and tell you? She was supposed to tell you both. I mean obviously your younger selves wouldn’t know, but she was supposed to tell you.” Julia trailed off and turned to Alice.

“Get out, both of you just get the fuck out. I’m going back to bed.” Eliot said as he turned to throw himself on their bed. Alice did as he requested, but Julia paused before following.

“Eliot, it’s Quentin...” Julia began.

Eliot cut her off. “I don’t give a flying fuck Julia, he’s younger and you thought it would be a good idea to have him wake up in a bed with someone he’s only barely met, barely clothed, and no idea why I would molest him at 8:00 in the fucking morning. Great idea really.” Eliot spat in her direction.

Julia drew back at the anger in Eliot, but stood her ground. “Eliot I’ve known Quentin my whole life. Is it ideal that you didn’t know about the spell, no of course not. But, there’s no way Quentin would be upset by waking up in bed with you. Ever. Well while he’s not dating anyone anyway.” Her tone had turned exasperated.

“How the hell can you know that?” Eliot all but yelled.

“Good lord Eliot he has a type, you’d met each other, if I know Q and well I do, honestly he was probably over the fucking moon to see your face when he woke up.” Julia said clearly moving from exasperated to annoyed.

“He’s standing right here you know…..” Quentin interjected but they both ignored him.

“What are you talking about Julia?” Eliot was clearly confused, but he sat up in the bed, no longer lying down.

“You don’t know? How is that possible, you’ve known each other for over 60 years.” Julia looked between Eliot and the younger version of Quentin. Who had gone a bit squinty eyed at the 60 years comment, what the hell he thought. He watched Julia start pointing her finger at Eliot while trying to keep from laughing. “You’re telling me in all the years you’ve known one another he’s never told you?” Julia turned to Quentin and started giggling.

Quentin looked at her curiously, “Never told him what?”

“About Wesley, or Jamie, or Eric. I mean honestly Q, Alice was probably the only aberration. You’ve got a thing for brunettes.” Julia leaned against the door of their room.

Quentin shook his head shrugged and said, “I don’t know in a weird way she kind of reminds me of you.” He was actually feeling kind of brave. He figured if he was in a long term relationship with Eliot, that he’d gotten over Julia at some point, and she probably knew.

“Still doesn’t explain why you haven’t talked to Eliot about the others.” Julia said calmly.

“Well I mean Eliot’s amazing, I probably just don't want him to know how terrible all of my relationships have been.” Quentin shrugged.

Eliot gaped at Quentin. “You’ve been at Brakebills less than a month and you are somehow delusional enough to think I’m amazing. Before Fil…”Julia waved her hands at him to get him to stop.

“Hey so Kady was supposed to tell you that you’re not allowed to tell him big major plot points. Vague mentions of relationships are fine, but actual plot points are a no go. And now that I’ve given that warning, I think I’ve intruded enough. If you want to hang later Q just come find me.” With that Julia quietly walked out of the room. 

Quentin all of a sudden felt an awkwardness he hadn’t experienced even when he woke up that morning. It was weird, he should have felt incredibly awkward, but he had been completely fine. Now, looking at Eliot, he just didn’t know what to do with himself. Eliot magically seemed to pick up on his feelings though, and motioned for him to come sit on the bed.

“Come on Q, sit relax, let’s talk. You can tell me all the embarrassing stories older you likes to keep under wraps.” He patted the bed beside him, and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Q took one from him as he sat down beside him.

“It’s not fair that I can’t pick your brain.” Quentin said taking a drag from the cigarette.

Eliot laughed, “Oh you can bet my Quentin is definitely grilling younger me.”

“What do you want to know?”

“That’s easy, explain the series of names Julia so kindly dropped into conversation.” Eliot said, watching Quentin’s face closely.

Quentin blushed. “It’s nothing really. I don’t even know why she said Wesley, it’s not like that was a full on thing.”

Eliot’s brow shot up, “But something happened. Tell me.”

Quentin pushed down the bed so he could fully lay on his back, staring up at Eliot’s, well their ceiling, he decided what the hell. There was no reason specifically he could imagine he wouldn’t have told Eliot, so he began. “Wesley was the first guy I kissed. Before you get all  _ you _ about it, we were like 7. Julia was having a birthday party in her backyard, and Wesley was one of the kids who didn’t go to school with us, but their parents knew each other, so he came. It happened in the sandbox and I wouldn’t even remember it, if Julia didn’t tease me about it mercilessly.”

“Oh that’s precious, darling little Q. So what did he look like?” Eliot asked while stretching himself out further and resting his head upon his hand. He was just slightly leaning over Quentin.

“I don’t know, he was a little bit older, taller than me with dark hair. He was funny. I don’t really remember.” Q shrugged and exhaled more smoke.

“Hmmm” said Eliot. “What about the next one Jamie?”

Quentin laughed remember the boy. “Oh that one was even more nothing, his name was Jamie Wilson. He was a crush I had in grade school. I never did anything about it, but I mistakenly told Julia one afternoon and she insisted on writing Mr. Quentin Coldwater-Wilson on all of my books. We were in like jr high I think. My best friend is the worst. Eric was the only one that was actually a thing.”

Eliot froze on the bed. “Oh, a thing. What do you mean a thing?” His voice had gone oddly vague in its expression. Quentin looked up at him, but Eliot had his face turned away. Then it dawned on him, and Quentin nearly rolled off the bed when he burst out laughing.

Cackling he gasped out “I know why he didn’t tell you, oh my god, I know.” Quentin brought his hands up to cover his face giggling into his palms.

Eliot had turned to Quentin, and has he removed his hands from his face he caught Eliot’s pained look. “Out with it Coldwater.”

“I bet he’s not telling you because he thinks it’s sweet you thought he was a virgin before he met you. You somehow thought you were the only guy I’d ever been with, and he didn’t want to ruin the illusion, oh my god that’s hilarious.” Quentin laughed again. “I mean Eric is the only relationship I’ve had with another guy, but Undergrad was all about that” and here Quentin did air quotes “experience. Julia has on more than one occasion called me a slut. Jesus Eliot, are you okay?” As Quentin was explaining everything, Eliot had gone silent, then he’d gone tense, and finally just as Quentin was telling him Julia’s favorite nickname for him in college, Eliot lay himself back on the bed with a great big sigh.

“I didn't know.” Eliot said quietly.

Quentin sat up and turned over so that he was laying across Eliot, his arms crossed over his chest and his chin propped up on his hands. He figured he had the right since Eliot was his person. “Eliot, I was just joking, not about the not being a virgin, but why he’s not telling you. I don’t know why he didn’t tell you, but I’m guessing it’s because I think you’re about a million times better than anyone I’ve ever been with and I’ve known you less than a month. He’s known you for years, and let’s face it my self esteem is shit even on a good day. Have you ever asked me about it? Did I lie or something?”

Eliot shook his head and softly ran his hand through Quentin’s shorter hair. “No, no I never brought it up, I guess I was too afraid of what your answer might be.” He said it quietly with an air of contemplation.

Quentin was a little concerned with how calm and collected Eliot was, he thought age might do that to you a little, but Eliot was kind of missing his energy. He also couldn’t believe that Eliot would be afraid of knowing something that he felt was so obvious. His love for Julia hadn’t stopped him from sleeping with people, he’d just not wanted to be in a relationship and he’d always been a little bit more private than most about his affairs. He was very curious about why  he was specifically keeping it from Eliot. “Do we ever talk about our past, relationships specifically?” 

“No, my history is pretty tragic, so it’s a little bit of a downer really. Otherwise it’s just sex and I barely remember their names.” Eliot still wasn’t looking at him, and Quentin wasn’t as knowledgeable about this Eliot as his future self was. He wished he was because he wanted to fix it, whatever was bothering Eliot was making his brow crease.

“Maybe I just assume you know and there’s nothing to talk about. How did we get together? And what did Julia mean saying we’ve known each other for 60 years?” Quentin asked in a low voice, hoping his questions would distract Eliot from whatever spiral he’d dropped into. It worked.

“Oh no, sweetheart you are not going to trick me into revealing more than I should. The fact that you’re a Q from before we were together is going to be problematic enough, we don’t need to step on any more butterflies than we already have. Come on let’s go downstairs. We can’t stay locked in this room all day as much as I would enjoy that, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for me not to strip you and have my delightfully wicked way with you.” Eliot quickly rose from the bed and pulled Quentin along behind him.

Quentin looked around the place, but it didn’t actually look like the cottage. They were in some apartment somewhere. They entered the living room holding hands, and he saw Julia on the couch. Eliot led him over and pushed him down beside her, then he leaned down and kissed Quentin quickly. “Sit darling, talk to Julia and I’ll go make you some breakfast.” Eliot headed out of the room to the kitchen.

“He’s going to make me breakfast?” Q said with a bit of wonder in his voice.

Julia smiled widely at him, “Eliot makes you breakfast most days.” 

“ _ Really _ ?” Quentin questioned.

“Yes Q, he takes care of you. Really well I might add. He doesn’t push you to be something that you’re not, he doesn’t ask you to be stronger or better or more than what you want to be, he lets you set the pace. You’re incredibly important to him, and he takes that responsibility very seriously.” Julia said her tone solemn and sincere.

Quentin watched Eliot from his place on the couch. “Am I doing a good job taking care of him?”

“Well I wouldn’t know really, Eliot or hell Margo would be the better person to ask about that, but she’s not here right now. I think you are if it’s any consolation, you both seem happy.” 

She and Quentin spoke about Brakebills naming off some of the people he’d met that were still around and others that were not, until Eliot had finished breakfast and brought it over. He handed the plates out and sat down beside Quentin. 

“You said he’d be here for 24 hours, so when exactly is his time up?” Eliot asked Julia.

“You guys were in bed by 9 last night, so somewhere between 10 and 10:30.” She said around a mouthful of eggs.

“Do we need to keep him hidden in the apartment for the day, or can we go out?”

Julia looked up thoughtfully, “You should probably keep him here. It wouldn’t do for one of the muggles to recognize him and wonder why he’s so young. Also, Alice will probably be around soon wanting to question him for “Science”” Julia said with a snicker.

“So I dated Alice?” Quentin butted in.

“Yes.” Eliot said shortly.

Quentin watched his face. There was something there that was bothering Eliot about his and Alice’s relationship. He didn’t know what it was, but it was something. He wondered whether or not he could leave a message for his future self to get that sorted out. Needing more information, he poked at the clearly sensitive topic. “Why’d we break up?”

“Right, I’m out.” Eliot stood and grabbed all the empty plates and stalked off toward the kitchen. Quentin turned and looked at Julia with a raised brow.

She shrugged. “Not sure if I should tell you. Alice said no specifics.” Speak of the devil thought Quentin. The blonde walked through the door.

“Ah Quentin, fantastic. I need to speak with you.” Alice said sharply. Quentin nodded and stood to follow her. She led him down the hall to an office and motioned for him to sit.

“So I’m sure by now you’re wondering why we performed the spell?” 

“Yes, the thought had crossed my mind.” He replied with his best deadpan snark.

Alice ignored him, and began speaking, “well first you should know we lied to Eliot. Kady wasn’t supposed to tell either of you about it.” 

Quentin gaped at her. “Okay, does this have anything to do with what you said about the two of us statistically being good candidates for time travel?”

She beamed at him and took a deep breath. “Yes actually. I’m not going to tell you everything, that would be stupid, but I will tell you the reason. You and Eliot are soulbound, which means that regardless of what timeline you’re in, what reincarnation you are of yourself, the two of you will always meet. Your souls are connected with magic.”

Quentin stood up and started pacing. “When did that even happen, how did that even happen?”

Alice shrugged, her face doing that angry thing again. “As far as we know, it’s random and it happens at birth. There’s nothing you can do to create a soulbond, and there’s nothing you can do to break one. They aren’t like romantic or anything, it’s just a piece of magic in you matches a piece of magic in him. Beyond that the lore is pretty sketchy.” 

Quentin nodded though he didn’t really understand, “Why is that relevant to this spell?”

Alice leaned back in the chair she sat down in. “We needed a soulbound pair because like I said pre-destined to meet always. So we wouldn’t be breaking any cosmic rules per se. We need you specifically so you can hold onto something for us. We give it to you, and you carry it back into the past with you. We could have simply transported it, but we need someone to be aware of its existence.” She opened her desk drawer and pulled out a small box. 

“What is it, and if I take it into the past, it’s still going to be in the future. I don’t get it.” Alice laughed. 

“We don’t need it to disappear from now, we need to age it by about 10 years but we need that 10 years to be a natural flow of time. There are no spells that can create the natural passage of time without using a tremendous amount of power. So we used a less tremendous amount to put you in charge of the task. We’re incredibly lucky the two of you are soulbound. Whatever you do when you go back, don’t tell Dean Fogg about this. Don’t tell anyone, not even me. Hide it in the attic of the cottage, I’ll show you where.”

Quentin was a little overwhelmed. “What exactly is it, you still haven’t said?” 

Alice looked up at him and grinned. “It’s a dragon egg.”

Quentin gasped, his eyes went round. “Okay” He said, “tell me everything.”

Alice and Quentin were in the office for hours, they missed lunch, and by the time his stomach started making noise it was almost dinner. He wondered out of the office with her to find Eliot. Before he could start his search Alice stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Eliot is one of the most insecure people I’ve ever met. Not about his looks, not about his intelligence, not about anything that most people are insecure about. He is incredibly insecure about his own worth. I’m only telling you this so maybe he’ll stop looking at me like he wants to murder me, and maybe if you know this now instead of finding it out later it will save all of us a few headaches. Do with that what you will.” With that she marched her way out of the apartment. Quentin watched her go with a puzzled look on his face. What the hell. He heard Eliot in the kitchen so he went to investigate.

“Ah finally come up for air did you?” Eliot snarks at him.

Quentin walked up behind Eliot, standing at the stove, and wrapped his arms around him. “What’s this?” Eliot asked as he turned around to return the hug.

“Honestly the only thing that makes sense in this place is you. Can we eat in your room, I really just want to lay down and then go home, I’m kind of.” Q broke off. He didn’t quite know what to say.

Eliot ran his fingers through Quentin’s hair. “Done, over it, tired, exhausted. Those are all good words for you darling. Let me finish this up and we can definitely hide from the rest of the house in  _ our _ room. You go on ahead though.”

Quentin went ahead and entered Eliot’s room. He poked around looking at the odd things that were laying about. Eliot had some sort of odd crown on his dresser of all things. He found some pen and paper, and wrote a letter to his future self. Alice was going to erase the memory of this event from his mind, she hadn’t said but he guessed. There was no way his memory of the future wouldn’t impact his timeline, so he sat down to make sure that older him knew that he needed to work out some stuff with Eliot. He heard Eliot in the hall, so he finished the letter and stuffed it in Quentin’s shirt drawer. Eliot came through the door with delicious smelling food, and they sat on the bed together to eat. They talked for hours, until it was getting close to time for Quentin to be zapped back into his own time.

“So is the future everything you thought it was going to be?” Eliot asked Quentin.

“No to be honest, I had a really hard time imagining my future for the longest time, and once I got into Brakebills, I was too focused on the now to even think about it.” Q said as honestly as he could while brushing his hair back from his face. Eliot nodded in understanding. They finished their food and made themselves comfortable on the bed. 

Quentin decides, if he’s not going to remember this, he honestly has nothing to lose by trying. So he turns to Eliot, and kisses him hard, biting, and wet. Placing his hands on Eliot’s neck, he pulls him down so that they’re both lying down facing one another, and kisses him until he can’t breathe. He pulls back some, looks into Eliot’s beautiful eyes, and goes back in for more kissing. 

“Not that I’m complaining, but what brought this on?” Eliot asks between breaths, as Quentin kisses his neck. 

“Honestly, just, this morning you kind of blew my mind. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t imagining it.” Quentin said with a sigh.

Eliot smiled. “Okay, Casanova.”

Quentin chuckled and leaned back. He and Eliot were facing one another and he wanted to reassure him that everything was going to be okay. Knowing this Eliot was older didn't reassure him that Eliot was going to be okay, he just wanted him to know that it would all work out. Eliot was tall and thin, but he pressed into Quentin in all of the right places, Quentin really didn’t want to give that up. There was a kind of comfort in the weight of Eliot pressed against him that Quentin had never felt before, regardless of who he dated. And, before he left, he wanted Eliot to know at least a little bit of that comfort. “Eliot?”

“Yes boo.” Eliot said quietly with his beautiful grin.

“I think it must have been incredibly easy for me to fall in love with you, and I hope like hell I get the chance again. Whatever happens when I get back, I want you to know we became friends instantly because you’re so fucking amazing.” He leaned forward and gently brushed his lips across Eliot’s. Laying down and closing his eyes, Quentin knew he wasn’t going to remember any of this, but he hoped it did future him some good he thought, as he drifted away.


	2. Eliot the Wise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Quentin sees things from a different perspective, and learns that he might have a couple of things to discuss with his very significant other.

Quentin rolled over and pulled his hands over his head. A tornado of noise and debris surrounded him, rocks cutting him and a cacophony of destruction pressing down upon him. Carefully crawling along the floor, he tried to look around to see where he was, but he couldn’t get a sense of anything except smoke, fire, and magic. Concrete slabs were broken, water was coming from what he thought were probably sprinklers, and crumbled piles of junk surrounded him, but thankfully he hadn’t seen any bodies yet. Quentin realized he was in a building that had either just been bombed, or was currently in the process of being bombed, or collapsing, or something. The floors were broken and falling in on one another, but that didn’t explain the whirlwind of flying debris. He propped himself up under a broken concrete slab and looked around. 

His heart sank in his chest. 

Eliot was sitting on the floor, his magic out of control whirling around him furiously. He had his knees pulled up to his chest, and his arms wrapped around his knees. What the fuck he thought. They’d gone to bed last night just like any other night. Quentin crawled away from the platform, quickly did a shield spell, and made his way over to Eliot, slowing his approach so he didn’t startle him. When he finally reached him, it took him a minute to realize that this wasn’t his Eliot. He was younger. Much younger. His hair was completely different, and he was wearing his pre-Fillory, pre-Mike, Brakebills attire. He still hadn’t noticed Quentin, so Quentin very slowly reached out and put his hands on Eliot’s arms.

Eliot’s eyes snapped open, and he tried to jerk back but Quentin wouldn’t let him. “Eliot, sweetheart it’s going to be okay.” Then he jerked Eliot into his body, in one of the tightest hugs he could manage with all the magic throwing things around. Eliot’s body was trembling, his skin was on fire, and he had blue sparks crawling along his skin. Quentin frantically tried to get him to focus, he was going to niffin if he didn’t calm down. “Eliot, please calm down. You’re overloading.”

“I don’t know who you are; get the fuck off of me.” Eliot spat twisting in Quentin’s grip. 

Quentin refused to let him go, Eliot was strong, but Quentin was older and knew most of his tricks. Taking his hand and sliding it into Eliot’s hair, he gripped his curls and jerked his head back firmly, but not hard enough to actually hurt. “I said calm the fuck down.” Quentin let his voice drop so he was all but growling in Eliot’s ear, his breath whispering across Eliot’s face. Just like he expected, Eliot shivered, and there was a noticeable drop in the magic whirling around them. 

When Eliot was in a snit, Quentin had learned, sex could usually distract him, not completely derail him, but definitely distract. This was something a little bit more than a snit, but he had hoped the same would hold true. Eliot liked to be worshiped, it was his most obvious kink, but he also occasionally liked to be controlled. Not violently, not abusively, no blood or pain, but he liked to be bossed around. Firmly. Quentin liked nothing more than to worship Eliot, and didn’t mind occasionally being the boss, so it worked out quite well for them. 

He felt Eliot draw in a deep breath, “what the fuck.”

Quentin knew he was dealing with a younger version of Eliot so he had to think quickly. “You’re safe, I’m not going to let anything happen to you okay, but I need you to settle down and tell me what we’re up against.” Quentin said, he pulled back so Eliot could see his eyes. Eliot had told him once, that he’d lied like hell when he told Quentin he bonded fast. Latching onto Quentin like he did was unusual for him. Outside of Margo, and he hadn't even immediately taken to her like he had to Quentin. He’d said, at the time, that it hadn’t been anything other than the genuine sincerity in Quentin's eyes that had trapped Eliot. Quentin had thought he was drunk and bullshitting him, but watching Eliot settle against him, his magic slowly but surely easing, he had to wonder if Eliot had been actually telling him the truth.

Eliot gasped, and Quentin could tell the feeling was coming back into his limbs, his face scrunched up in pain. Quentin loosed his hold a bit, and helped Eliot stretch out, knowing the pins and needles from too much magic were uncomfortable as hell. He kept his arms around him, they were still sitting in a burning building falling down around their ears, but Quentin cradled Eliot close to himself trying to offer comfort. 

“How did you know what to do?” Eliot asked through chattering teeth, he was in shock thought Quentin. The come down was always the worst.

“I’ll tell you later, right now we need to get out of here, and I need to know what we’re dealing with.” Eliot had never once told him about living through a collapsing building, but he’d been here before Quentin showed up, so it wasn’t because of anything Quentin had done. Add to that the fact that he had no idea how he got here, there were only a few things this could be: Time Travel, Alternate Dimension, or Dream walking of some kind. The thought that Eliot had a secret after all this time, made him just a little uncomfortable, but everything around them felt too real for it to be a dream. He decided Time Travel or Alternate reality were the most reasonable.

“I was at a party, someone put something in my drink I think, I’m not really sure.” Eliot said, shaking his head.

“Are we in New York?” Quentin reevaluated. Eliot may not have made it to Brakebills yet.

“Yeah, yeah I was invited to a party it wasn’t all that exclusive so I don’t even know who was here, it was for the Drama graduation. How are we going to get out of here, and how are we still even breathing. How do you know me and fucking who _ ARE _ you?”

Quentin knew that Eliot had gone to college knowing he had magic, but he hadn’t really met any other magicians until Brakebills. Quentin absentmindedly began to stroke his hand soothingly up and down Eliot’s back, wanting to help ease the trembling while he thought about what they should do. Distracted as he was, he didn’t notice the intense look Eliot was throwing his way. He didn’t notice the way Eliot devoured every bit of his profile, or the way his breath caught when Quentin pushed his long hair back from his face. 

“Magic. It’s a shield spell you….um well that’s not important, but it will keep us safe. We still need to move. I’m not sure of the specifics of this night, so i’m going to get you out of here, and make a call okay.” Quentin said in his most reassuring tone.

Eliot was barely paying attention, and Quentin had to snap out his name to get his attention. “Yeah,yeah, out of here, that sounds good.” Eliot was staring at him, Quentin was more than a little used to it, Eliot liked to stare. But, with this version of Eliot, he was having a hard time figuring out if Eliot was okay. He knew just about every version of Eliot there was: high, sober, drunk, hung over, king, deposed king, and adult responsible Eliot. Young Eliot was kind of tripping him up though. Quentin pushed it away, he needed to get them out, so he pulled Eliot up and started making his way through the burning debris. 

The layout of the building wasn’t all that complicated, Quentin just pushed Eliot through the piles towards the big flashing sign indicating the stairs. Eliot reached out a hand to open the door, but Quentin slapped his hand away and moved to get in front of him. He used the bottom of his shirt to shield his hand from any heat that might burn his fingers and quickly pushed the door open. “It might have burned your hand.” Quentin said by way of explanation, he grabbed Eliot’s hand and pulled him along behind him. Again, faced away from Eliot as he was, he missed the appreciative look Eliot shot his way. Quentin all but drug Eliot down the stairs and out of the building, dodging the small fires and protecting Eliot from the things falling down the stairwell. They made it outside and Quentin breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Quentin took stock. His shirt was a complete lost cause, Eliot wasn’t in any better shape, except he was also missing his shoes. Damn he thought, he needed to get them out of here before they were picked up by the emergency services surrounding the building. He led Eliot down an alley, away from the red and blue flashing lights, and made note of the streets. “Give me your phone.” Quentin demanded, and Eliot handed it over without thought. Eliot had a pretty standard, easy to guess password system, so Quentin opened the phone easily, pulled up a map, figured out where they were and where they needed to go all in under five minutes. 

“You just unlocked my phone.” Eliot said stupefied taking it back from Quentin and putting it away. 

“I’ve told you repeatedly your password system is garbage. Are your feet okay?” Quentin asked as he pushed Eliot along.

“Are my feet okay.  _ Are my feet okay _ . That’s all you have to say!!.” Eliot was headed into hysterics. Quentin figured he had about 5 more minutes of Eliot following him before he put down his foot and went completely uncooperative and stubborn. The shock was helping Quentin at the moment, but it was eventually going to lead to Eliot blowing up again if he didn’t head it off. If this was time travel, he couldn’t tell Eliot who he was, hell he’d probably given away too much already. He needed Eliot to trust him, but he also needed to keep the details light.

Quentin stopped on the sidewalk, they were well away from the burning building, but still close enough that it was lighting up the street. He gently turned Eliot to face him, and made sure he was staring directly into his eyes when he said, “I can’t tell you who I am, but I promise I won’t let anything bad happen okay. I know you, just not now you, and I will answer what questions I can later. My priority right now is making sure you’re safe, so can you wait just a bit longer, please.”

“Jesus Christ.” Eliot mumbled. “You’re like stupidly sincere. Okay fine, just a little bit longer, but can I at the very least get a name. I can’t keep calling you hot guy in my head.”

Quentin smirked, “I don’t know El, hot guy isn’t the worst thing I’ve been called.”

Eliot frowned in exasperation, and slapped Quentin’s chest. “I’m serious. Name.”

Quentin frowned, real name or fake name. Quickly he decided nick name would have to work, “Just call me Q.” He turned away and started walking again. There was, hopefully it was there, a magic safe-house about two more blocks down the street. He didn’t think it would alter too much if he took Eliot there and made sure he was safe for the day. When he’d checked Eliot’s phone it was just after 3:00 in the morning, so the sun hadn’t come up. He could drop Eliot off at the safe house, and while he was sleeping, call Fogg. He was the only one he knew of that could potentially help him. If Eliot wasn’t at Brakebills, then that mean the time loops hadn’t started so Fogg wouldn’t know who he was, he’d just have to talk fast to get him to help.

Getting into the safe-house was easy enough, convincing the bartender that Eliot was of age was more difficult. Quentin winced at the judgmental look, but pushed it aside as he pulled Eliot into the room. “Why not just take me back to my dorm?” Eliot asked him as he sat on the one bed in the room. He pulled his phone from his pocket and placed it on the nightstand.

“Honestly, I want to make sure that nothing is after you. How often do you lose control of your magic El?” Quentin asked as he crouched down to perform a minor healing spell on Eliot’s feet. They weren’t that bad, but he wasn’t going to take any chances.

“Only when I’m too upset to control it. Which hasn’t happened in a really long time.” Eliot said quietly. Quentin abruptly realized he was caressing Eliot’s feet, and dropped them back to the floor. He stood up, and went to sit in the chair by the window in the room. 

“Okay well you lay down and get some rest, I’m going to make a phone call. When you wake up we’ll talk about what happened okay?” Quentin watched Eliot nod, exhaustion clearly written across his features, he pulled the blankets back and settled himself under them. It took a few minutes, but he was out and Quentin got busy. 

Quentin grabbed Eliot’s phone again, unlocked it and performed a quick spell over it so he could actually get through to Dean Fogg. He answered on the 3rd ring. 

“Who is this and how did you get this number?” he asked with his deep commanding voice.

“Neither of those things are important. I’ll be one of your students in a few years. Somehow I’ve either time traveled or I’m in another dimension. I need to know how I can tell, and if it’s time travel I need to know what spells can do that, and how long I’m going to be here, and what the consequences are for fucking things up. If it’s alternate dimension, how do I get home?” Quentin just let it all spew out of his mouth.

Fogg was silent on the other end, but he knew the man liked to think, so he let him have his time. “How do I know you are or will legitimately will be a student at Brakebills.”

Quentin frowned, “Well I mean I know about your relationship with Bigby, and that she’s a pixie, not sure if that proves I’m a student, but I know you pretty well. I mean what do you want to know, that’s not going to break your timeline anyway?”

He could just imagine Fogg’s face going tight with that knowledge. “Nothing, that is sufficient. There are a few spells you can do that will confirm if you are in an alternate reality or another dimension. Where are you at now?”

“I’m in New York with Eliot Waugh. I believe he’s coming to Brakebills soon.”

“Why are you with Mr. Waugh?” Fogg didn’t even stumble over Eliot’s name, so he was already on the list. 

“He had a bit of a meltdown in a building off of 9th. We’re in a magic safe-house right now.”

“And you interceded? That’s dangerous, you could have impacted….”

Quentin interrupted Fogg before he could get started, “Look I think it was supposed to happen this way. I don’t know anything about this night, and I know everything about Eliot. He would have said something. But, at the same time I think this happened before. I’m pretty sure whatever magic is going on, is going to erase his memory, mine, and yours” Quentin isn’t sure how he knows that, but he’s pretty damn sure.

Fogg hummed in his ear. “Well then, there’s only one spell that would do that, the chronos anima psychí spell, and it will most certainly cloud our memories.”

“Not familiar, what is it?” Quentin asked while pacing around the room and occasionally checking on Eliot.

“Well if I’m correct it’s a soulmate spell for time travel. The spell will conclude after 24 hours. The two of you will need to be secluded, you could impact the timeline of others, though there is no danger of impacting your own.” Quentin stopped pacing and his mouth fell open. Fucking Alice, he thought.

“Will the safe house be sufficient or should I move him elsewhere.” Quentin asked feeling anger at Alice’s high handedness come over him making his words harsher.

“I will ensure all else is quiet. Do you know of the apartment in chester? It might be more prudent to spend your day there. It’s warded, and has little foot traffic compared to your current shelter.” Fogg said imperiously.

“Yeah I know about the chester apartment, we’ll lay low there. You might want to go ahead and send Eliot his paperwork and get him processed. I’m not sure what happened at the party he was at, but if he’s a target for the hedge witches you should go ahead and pull him out.” Quentin said his back to Eliot, so he was completely unaware that Eliot had woken up. Quentin finished his conversation with Fogg and hung up the phone. He looked out the window and wanted to throw his own tantrum. “Fuck” he said harshly. He knew this had to be Alice, she'd come to him two weeks ago and asked if she could try out a spell to see soul connections. She hadn't said anything at the time, but he'd seen her face afterward and she hadn't been completely happy. And hell, with as fucking shifty as Julia had been over the past week she’d probably helped.

All of a sudden the smell of smoke from the fire, and the sweat on his shirt started to get to him, so he dropped the phone on the chair and slipped his shirt off over his head intending to mend it and put it right back on. What he hadn’t counted on was Eliot getting out of bed and coming up behind him. 

Eliot reached out and lightly traced Quentin’s tattoo, with a soft inhalation, “Your name really is Q. You didn't lie to me.” Eliot said softly.

“It’s a nickname.” Q said and turned slightly to watch Eliot over his shoulder. Eliot still had his hand on Quentin’s back, but he looked up with a confused huff.

“I still have no idea what’s going on, but I’m not really that worried. How do you explain that, Q?.” Sneering was Eliot's fallback for when the frustration of everything got too much. He'd get more and more acerbic before he turned outright mean. Quentin ignored the tone, and turned back to his shirt. 

He sighed and performed the mending spell. He slipped his t-shirt back on, and said “honestly, the best explanation is magic. Things like this are going to happen to you for the rest of your life.” 

Eliot stepped back and sat on the bed, his frown going tight before slipping away and seemingly accepting Quentin’s explanation. “So what now?”

“We’re moving locations. It’s still pretty early in the morning, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to get to chester. There’s a safe house there you can use until Fogg can process you in for admission into Brakebills, and since you’re not going to remember this day, I give you free reign to ask me anything you want.” Eliot took a breath, but Quinten cut him off. “After we get to the apartment, I’ll answer any question you have.” Eliot puffed out a breath.

“Fine, I’ll behave, but only if you find me some goddamn cigarettes.” Quentin laughed and said "Of course", and walked out the door motioning for Eliot to follow him.

Getting to the Chester apartment was easy enough, a cab ride, a short stop for snacks and cigarettes, and about an hour later Quentin was performing the unlocking spell that would let the inside. Quentin didn’t really like this place, though he couldn’t say why. It kind of reminded him of Julia’s apartment. The door to the bedroom was in the living room, he motioned for Eliot to take the room while he went around double checking the wards. Eliot got as far as the door before he turned around to watch Quentin.

“I know this is going to sound weird, but will you come in here with me, I’m not sure why but I feel.” He cut himself off, but Quentin understood. 

“Yes, I don't mind and it's not weird. I’ll be there in a minute, go ahead and get into bed though El, you’ve had less than an hour of sleep and you’ve been up all night.” Eliot nodded at him tiredly and went into the room. Quentin heard the shower turn on, so he gave Eliot time to finish and get in bed before he followed and did the same. 

When he went back into the room, Eliot was mostly asleep, but he patted the bed beside him. “Is it weird that I want you here.” They were both in sweatpants without shirts, but Quentin figured Eliot was too tired for shenanigans, and he was too weirded out by an Eliot 10 years too young for him.

“No, of course not.” Quentin said as he climbed in bed beside him and got comfortable.

“We’re together aren’t we? In the future I mean. That’s how you know me.” Eliot said.

“Yeah we are.” Quentin said quietly. They were both turned facing one another, with their heads propped on their hands, perfect mirrors. “Will you tell me why you went to the party tonight and what happened?” Quentin asked softly.

Eliot frowned. “It was an end of year party and one of the guys in my lit class asked if I wanted to go. I said yes. I got there, I ordered a drink, drink was spiked, you know the rest.” Eliot said all of this sharply and pointedly. Quentin knew that wasn’t everything.

He had an idea, “Okay your turn.” He figured maybe if they took turns Eliot would open up a little more.

Eliot’s eyes sparkled at him, understanding the game. “Okay, how did we meet?” Eliot asked.

Quentin chuckled. “My first day on campus, you escorted me to the test, you’re a little bit older than me.” Quentin watched Eliot take in the information and start to ask another question, but Quentin shook his head.

“My turn. What set you off at the party El. It doesn’t matter how drunk, high, or whatever you are you don’t lose control of your magic like that unless it's something big?” Quentin said firmly and confidently. Knowing he was pushing El, but hoping he could get through to him.

Eliot frowned, but ultimately shrugged and explained. “There was a boy, they had him in one of the closed offices on the floor we were on. He kept saying no, and they kept not stopping. Something had been slipped in my drink so I wasn’t as cautious as I normally am, fighting isn’t really my thing, so I was just going to knock them all out, but I saw the kid. He had blood on him, and I snapped. They all got out okay, but I couldn’t reign it in. I have literally never lost control like that, not even when I accidentally used my magic and hurt people. It was like a flood and I couldn’t shut it off.” Eliot said haltingly as he explained.

Quentin nodded, “Okay, that’s perfect, you didn’t do anything wrong. You were provoked on purpose.” Quentin reached out and pulled Eliot a little closer, into a half hug.

“On purpose, what do you mean?”

“Witches who don’t get into magic school, and try to teach themselves, try to force magic out of people they’re looking to recruit. They can be dangerous sometimes.” Quentin said. He watched Eliot absorb the information, and leaned back into his own space.

“So I guess I get into this magic school, if that’s where we meet.” Eliot adjusted his position laying his head down on his pillow and sliding his arm underneath. Quentin nodded at him and did the same.

“Have we always been together?” he asked.

Quentin frowned. “No, no we both dated other people before we got together.”

“How long have we been together?” 

“That’s a difficult question to answer, and one that would take the better part of a week to explain.” Quentin said with a laugh and a quick grin.

Eliot frowned at him though, not thinking it was a laughing matter. “I probably fuck it up right, like I’m such a fucking worthless son of a bitch, that I do something that fucks us up. There’s no way you put up with me for real.”

Quentin snapped to attention and raised himself up to stare down at Eliot. “You. Do. Not. fucking talk about yourself like that. Do you hear me?” He said fiercely.

Eliot’s eyes went wide, and he said in near total awe,   “Anyone could just take advantage of all that blind loyalty, you should be careful.”

Quentin shook his head, “No deflecting Eliot, you do not talk about yourself like that, I mean it.” Eliot just frowned at him. Quentin knew Eliot wasn't going to remember, but there was something inside of him that was just burning, he needed Eliot to know. To understand. "You are an amazing magician, you're powerful, inventive, one of the most charismatic people I've ever met, and so fucking thoughtful you blow my mind. You are unapologetic in your self expression, and you light up my fucking world. I have to pull your feelings out of you with a pitchfork, but it's fucking worth every hard won battle we've fought. I crowned you the spectacular and I fucking meant it, I know you don't know what I'm talking about, but I just need you to know that."

Eliot’s eyes went wide, and his gaze got a little bit hazy, and he said with wonder, “Fucking christ you love me don’t you, like we’re not just together, we’re endgame, like no one else  _ ever, _ kind of together.”

“Yes, I love you, and you love me. That's kind of the fucking point.” Quentin said confused about Eliot’s near disbelief.

“You say that like it’s so easy. I know me. You know about my family right, I told you?” Eliot asks, a dark weight coloring his words.

Quentin frowned harder but pulled Eliot closer so he could at least run a comforting hand down Eliot’s back, and said “yes, I know everything. Your dad, your mom and brothers, Tyler and Logan, I know all of it.” 

Eliot jerked in his arms. “If you know all of that you have to know that it fucked me up. I’m so fucked up.” Eliot’s voice was going hoarse, and Quentin realized he was fighting back tears. “The people who were supposed to protect me from the monsters under the bed, didn’t. No one has ever protected me from the monsters, from the dark and I can't.” Eliot brought a hand up to rub his eyes. “Christ.” 

“Eliot, look at me.” Quentin brought Eliot’s face up from where he’d tried to hide. “I love you”

Eliot cut him off, before he could continue, “do you tell me that every day?” He asked fiercely.

Quentin could no longer resist, he jerked Eliot into his arms and kissed his forehead. “Of course I tell you everyday.”

Eliot huffed out a breath, and wiped the tears from his face. “You need to tell me twice. You need to tell me so much. I know me Q, I know me now, and maybe age changes me, I’m sure it does, but I know me. You have to tell me more.” Eliot was insistent, almost frantic and Quentin wanted him to calm down, and be easy. They were both just really tired.

“I’ll tell you ten times a day, but I promise Eliot, you know, and I would never let you forget.” Quentin said softly kissing his forehead again.

“I bet I drive you crazy.” Eliot said laughing. 

Quentin smiled and gently pushed Eliot’s hair back from his face. He was tired, the exhaustion was getting to him, and his vulnerability was making Quentin’s heart ache. “Yeah, you drive me completely nuts.”

“What’s the last thing we fought about?” Eliot snuggled into Quentin, clearly winding down and ready to finally sleep.

Quentin chuckled. “Alice. I told you to stop getting pissed at her when she came over.”

Eliot snuggled even closer, “Who’s Alice?”

Quentin said softly, “Ex girlfriend.”

Eliot tensed. “You’re friends with your ex?”

Quentin wouldn’t let Eliot pull away and began rubbing his back in an effort to get him to relax. “We’re all friends, we’ve been friends for 10 years. You and Alice are friends, it just takes you a minute to remember sometimes.”

“Do I know everything about you? You said you know everything about me, but have you told me everything about you?” Eliot tilted his face up away from Quentin and brought his finger up to Quentin’s chin so he could tilt his face down and look in his eyes.

“I…”Quentin stopped himself from saying anything.

“Because I wouldn’t give a shit about some girl looking at you if I wasn’t worried. I might be older, and hell maybe a little wiser, but I can guarantee I’m not the jealous type. So you two need to get your shit together.” Quentin winced, but nodded. Maybe they did have some things to discuss. “Now wrap your arms around me and let’s cuddle. If I have to wait 10 fucking years for you to get it together, the least you can do is feel me up.”

Quentin laughed and pulled Eliot on top of him as he rolled onto his back. “Yes your majesty.”

“Hmmm you can definitely keep saying that.” Eliot said with a sigh. They both closed their eyes and within seconds were completely asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to go with the 3rd chapter. It might be a couple of days though :)


	3. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all works out in the end.

“Quentin! Eliot!.” Margo shouted as she blew the door open. “Sun’s up, Asses up!” Quentin squinted at their door. Where the hell had Margo come from? Had yesterday happened? He looked over and sighed, Eliot wasn’t in bed with him, but this was definitely their room at the apartment. Quentin stretched and pushed the covers off of him, ignoring Margo standing at the foot of his bed tapping her foot impatiently. Predictably she did not appreciate either his slow pace or his complete lack of response to her dramatics.

“Where the fuck is our other half?” Margo demanded, her hands on her hips, and both of her eyes boring into him.

Quentin shrugged. If Eliot had gone through anything like he had the day before, he was more than likely on the roof drinking a cup of coffee and chain smoking cigarettes. If he’d wanted to talk to Margo he would have sought her out, but clearly Eliot needed a minute, so Quentin was going to give it to him. The longer he could keep Margo distracted, the longer Eliot would have to process. And Quentin had learned over the years, that limiting his responses to Margo drove her batshit, and distracted her up one wall and down the other.

“Coldwater, I have got 0 time and no fucking patience for your bullshit. Where the fuck is Eliot? We have shit to do.” She stalked even closer to Quentin. Quentin just stared at her as he pulled his sweatpants down, not bothering to cover anything. He was stark naked standing in front of his dresser, and as he pulled open the drawer with his jeans, he smirked. Nakedness would also somewhat distract Margo, and any reservations he may or may not have had about his nakedness had evaporated months ago.

“Motherfucker, you’re playing me aren’t you?” Margo whispered. Quentin heard just the barest hint of admiration in her tone. “I’m about to knock you into next week.” She said sweetly, one of her favorite things was admiring the view while also threatening violence.

Quentin pulled his pants on, and turned to face Margo, as he was buttoning his jeans he said. “I really don’t know where Eliot is, but yesterday was kind of a cluster Margo. Give me 15 minutes, I’ll find him, make sure he’s good, and meet you in the kitchen.” He grabbed a shirt absentmindedly from his shirt drawer, and barely noticed as a piece of paper fell out and drifted to the floor.

“Fine, but your asses better be in the kitchen in exactly 15 or I will fuck you both up. Clear.” She demanded.

“Crystal.” Quentin said, watching her walk out of the room. He sighed and looked down, running both his hands through his hair and pushing it behind his ears. On the floor was the paper that fell out of his shirt drawer, he bent to pick it up, and noticed it had his name on it? “What the hell he thought as he opened it. He looked at the bottom first and smiled, of course he’d swapped places with a younger version of himself, and of course that younger version would leave him a letter. Quentin’s smile slowly faded as he read the letter.

_Dear Old-Quentin,_

_I’ll keep this short._

_Man you really need to get your shit together. I am obviously not you, and I don’t know where your headspace is at right now, but stop fucking taking for granted that you’re going to wake up together forever. Remind him that you want to. Show a little appreciation for the fact that there are days you don’t want to get out of bed, that there are days the world is going to crush you, and that man will be there with you through it all. I don’t know him that well, but even before whatever the hell the two of you have been through, I know that much._

_I’ll leave you with a reminder that you need to celebrate the world you are actually in, and stop letting every fucking thing else distract you. Love him hard, you both need it._

_P.S. For some reason, your ex upsets him. Fix it._

Quentin folded the letter back and threw it on his dresser. His younger self wasn’t wrong, he’d been so distracted by Fillory and the Library lately that he’d let some things slide that he should have just dealt with. Primarily that Eliot was staying in this apartment mostly by himself while Quentin fucked off to the Library with Alice and Margo was back and forth between Fillory and the Library. He had thought he had a good reason for doing so, but he’d taken it just a little too far. Far enough that he and Eliot had blown up at each other more than once over the past few weeks. Their relationship was tense and Quentin hated every second of it, because most of it was his fault. Quentin set off for the roof with no idea how he was going to make it up to Eliot, but determined to at least try.

He pushed the door open to the roof, and smiled to see Eliot sitting in one of the roof chairs with his head tilted back, creating beautiful smoke art with every exhale. Quentin was comforted that he at least knew Eliot well enough to know where he would be, he wasn’t so far gone that Eliot had developed new habits he didn’t know about. Quentin stepped onto the roof and made his way over to Eliot, standing beside his chair he looked down, “Good morning.”

Eliot looked up and smiled, he raised his arms to Quentin and made grabby hands. Quentin laughed, and pulled Eliot up from the chair so he could wrap his arms around him properly. “Not avoiding me then?” Q said, his voice muffled into Eliot’s shirt.

“No darling, I just didn’t want to wake you.” Eliot said softly into Quentin’s hair.

“Margo is waiting for us in the kitchen. We have like 10 minutes before she starts tearing the walls down.” Quentin squeezed Eliot just a little harder, trying his damndest to remember why he cared what Margo thought.

“So we’re not talking about yesterday then?” Quentin could hear the disappointment in Eliot’s voice, and it broke Quentin just a little bit that Eliot hesitated slightly before he asked.

“Of course we’re going to talk about it, I think we should take a few days just the two of us, and do nothing but talk about what happened. But, I have a feeling our worthless friends did this to us for a reason, and that reason is waiting for us in the kitchen.” Quentin pulled back from Eliot reluctantly, and watched Eliot sigh and nod his head.

“Do we forgive them?” He asked with a conspiratorial wink.

Quentin glared, “I think we make them suffer first.”

Eliot laughed, “I don’t know, baby Q was precious.”

Quentin shook his head, “Baby Eliot was magnificent of course, but our friends are still dicks.”

“Agreed.” Eliot wrapped his arm around Quentin’s shoulders, and directed them to the door. “I guess it’s time to get some answers then.”

It took less time to get to the kitchen than Quentin liked, having Eliot all to himself was his preference, but until they dealt with whatever the hell was going on, that wasn’t going to happen. Margo was in the kitchen with Julia and Alice, and Quentin made sure to glare at them all equally as they sat down. Julia had the good grace to look at least slightly guilty.

Alice spoke up first. “Before you yell at us for what we did, to successfully cast the spell we needed you both, and we needed you to not know. There is only one time travel spell in the lexicon that can be cast without damaging timelines or future events. The elements of the spell require that the soulmates cannot be part of the cast, and they cannot know about the cast.”

“Soulmates. What the fuck are you talking about Alice?” Eliot snapped angrily as he placed his palms on the counter, then he turned to Quentin, because Q’s face showed no shock “Q, what the fuck.”

Quentin grabbed one of Eliot’s hands and squeezed. “I figured it out while I was hanging out with you in the past. I didn’t know what the fuck was going on, and we weren’t at Brakebills. I had to call Fogg.” Quentin said in a rush. Eliot’s eyes got wide but he nodded in understanding, and squeezed Quentin’s hand in solidarity.

Quentin returned his glare to Alice, “Why exactly did you need me to swap places, because it was me wasn’t it? For some reason you needed a younger me here. Explain.”

Eliot interrupted, waving his hand “And the soulmates thing, what the hell.” Margo backed him up with a "Yeah bitch."

Alice sighed. “Fillory and magic are in trouble, alright. We need to figure out a way to create balance between the gods and magicians. Dragons can help. Margo has been making treaties with the remaining dragons. Their stipulation was that we accelerate the birth of their Dragon Queen. The only way to prematurely hatch a dragon egg is to accelerate time.”

“And since that’s not possible you had a younger me take the egg into the past and now you’re going to go get it and give it to the Dragons.” Quentin finished for her, knowing she hated being interrupted, but also happy to annoy.

Eliot sighed and sat back down, “Exactly why do you need the two of us if you’re just going to go pick the thing up from where ever you had baby Q stash it, also why is everyone ignoring me when I ask about soulmates?” He asked with an imperious sneer that he made sure all of them could see.

“The egg is in the attic at the cottage, and you and Q are the only two that can open the box, it was a safeguard.” She turned fully to face Eliot, and with a deep breath she began to explain. “We’re not ignoring you Eliot. You’re soulmates, as for what that is, there’s no clear answer. We know it’s rare and we don’t know how it happens.” Alice had never quite got the hang of gently relaying information, and Eliot was already walking a fine line hanging onto his temper. Quentin watched Eliot draw in a breath, his eyes go steely, and his hands clench with frustration.

“How do you know that Quentin and I are soulmates? And what does our soul have to do with it, is the magic part of our shades, I.don’t. _understand_?” Eliot drew his arms across his chest, crossing them with a huff.

“We really don’t have time for this.” Alice snapped, but Quentin was watching Eliot. He saw his face tighten and his lips flatten.

“You’ll make time Alice. You cast a spell on us without our permission. The very least you owe us is an explanation.” Quentin snapped at her, while still keeping a close watch on Eliot’s response. Sure enough, his whole face relaxed. Quentin wanted to sigh with relief, Eliot at the very least knew he was on his side, but kept it to himself.

Julia was the one to interrupt. “I’m not going to pretend to understand what is going on with you three, or why Alice is trying to make soulmates out to be something other than what they are, but we found a book about them about three months ago. After we do this, I’ll give you the book and you can do your own research. I’m sorry we cast the spell, but we had to.”

Quentin watched Eliot absorb everything Julia was saying, and winced a little bit as he snapped, “Fine.” Eliot stood up and turned his back on the girls.

Quentin turned back to Alice. “Alright, let’s get to the cottage. I assume the box has some sort of soulmate spell on it and that’s why you need us?”

Julia patted his arm and nodded at him. They all gathered together in the living room to portal to the cottage. Alice was the first one through and the first one up the stairs. The rest of the group followed behind her, when she reached the top of the stairs she waved her hand and performed a small spell to have the door to the attic appear at the end of the hall. Quentin could hear Eliot and Margo talking behind him, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying. He followed Alice through the door, and tried to subtly watch Margo and Eliot, but they were hanging out at the back of the group. Alice did another spell near a table in the corner once everyone had made it inside. The top of the table expanded and the box containing the dragon egg revealed itself.

“You two just need to put your pointer fingers on the box, it should unlock it.” Alice picked up the box and turned to face the group behind her.

Quentin and Eliot came forward and placed their pointer fingers where Alice indicated they should, a small light surrounded the box, and the latch holding it closed fell away.

“Well that was a little anticlimactic. Do you need us for anything else?” Eliot asked suspiciously.

The girls all shook their heads, Quentin sighed and grabbed Eliot’s hand. “Fantastic we’re going home then. You guys have fun saving magic….again.” Quentin pulled Eliot behind him and down the stairs, but bypassed the portal.

“Q, where are we going?” Eliot asked following along behind him.

Quentin turned and smiled, “It’s a surprise, and hopefully a good enough explanation or the past several months.” He watched Eliot frown, but steeled himself. He’d done a lot wrong, but he was hoping that Eliot would forgive him when he saw the results.Quentin drug him through the Brakebills Library to the back, down a staircase, through a steel door and into what was Quentin’s very messy office. He pushed Eliot down onto the couch Alice had insisted he put in the corner, after a few frustrating meetings ended in shouting matches. Eliot looked at him curiously, but Quentin just ignored it, going to his desk and pulling out a folder. He brought it over to Eliot and sat beside him on the couch.

“So we nearly broke up last week.” Quentin says quietly.

Eliot winces but nods his head. “Yeah.”

“And the day before yesterday we had a screaming match on the roof that ended with both of us crying and in bed by 9 o’clock.”

“Stating the obvious Q, not really moving things forward.” Eliot snapped.

“I love you.” Quentin turns to face Eliot on the couch, and he sees Eliot try to control the sadness that’s been drowning him for the past 3 months.

“Yeah I love you too, but we’ve been at this for a year, and goddamnit something’s got to give Q, we can’t go on like this.” Eliot said rubbing a hand across his face and pushing his hair back in frustration.

Quentin knew he had to be brave, he knew they needed to get it all out, and he had to make Eliot understand for both their sake. “I know. And a part of me wants to scream at you some more about doubting us, and a part of me wants to punish you for thinking I don’t love you enough, and a part of me wants to give up because I don’t deserve the light you bring to my life.” Eliot looked like he was about to interrupt, but Quentin put his hand over his mouth. “But fuck me Eliot, I’m sick and fucking tired of all the misery. I want to relish in how much I love you. You’re the center of my fucking world, and I love that feeling, and I need you to understand that. So I’m going to tell you something about my relationship with Alice that I don’t think you understand. I'm telling you because she bothers you and she absolutely fucking shouldn't. You have _nothing_ to be worried about."

Quentin settled back against the couch after removing his hand from Eliot’s mouth. He instead reached for Eliot’s hands and pulled them into his lap. He started quietly, “I latched onto Alice because she was the hero, she was the brightest, and she was stable... or as close to it as I’d ever seen besides Julia. I thought with as fucked as I was, she would be good enough to be able to keep me sane. Which nearly drove me off the edge obviously, but made me realize I can’t depend on anyone but myself for my sanity.”

He laced his fingers through Eliot’s, holding his hand as tightly as he could. Eliot was listening intently. ”You are the _only_ one that can be what I need. You take care of me, you handle my bullshit, I need you but it’s not an uncontrollable obsessive need. You create balance for me without forcing me to be _anything_ but what I am. Honestly you’re a whole hell of lot less emotional than Alice, and you can juggle my emotions in a way she never could. Like the fight we had, Alice would have avoided me for days, or continued the fight, or any number of other emotionally toxic behaviors. You set it aside, and put us both to bed. Do you know how much I fucking appreciate that levity in you?” Quentin starred so hard at Eliot, wanting the power of his eyes to drill it into Eliot’s mind, just how much Quentin appreciated him.

Eliot pulled Quentin into his arms. “You genuinely think I’m good for you?” Eliot asked hesitantly.

Quentin nodded his head vigorously. “Yes god yes, I think out of anyone I could have possibly ended up with, you are the best for me. And, more than anything, Eliot I want to be the best for you. You’re one of the most thoughtful and considerate people I’ve ever met, well when it comes to me anyway, and I don’t want to take that for granted.”

“Then where are we fucking up Q. What’s wrong with us? Why is this so fucking hard?”

Quentin sighed into Eliot’s chest. “I think we’re learning, and that doesn’t come easy to us. I think we’re trying to find our place both in the world and with each other. In Fillory we didn’t face the kind of distance we face here. And, I think we’re both so damn unsure of what we really want that we’re pushing each other, but we can’t give up El.”

He felt Eliot nod against his hair. “We’ve got to start acting like we’re on each other’s side, like it’s us against all of them.” Eliot offered softly.

Quentin tilted his face up, “Yeah.” he said with a smile. Kissed Eliot softly. “We also need to do this regularly, no more putting things off until we blow up at each other. You have to believe that I want this.”

“Agreed.” They sat there for several moments, just relaxing against each other. Eliot finally spoke up, “So what exactly is this folder you handed me?”

“Oh yeah, so the reason I’ve been at the Library and stuff for the past few months.” Quentin sat up and looked at Eliot a bright smile on his face. “I was working with Alice to fix the time disparity between Fillory and Earth, so we could go back and forth without sacrificing time. I wanted you to be able to choose either place without that being a factor.”

“And you call me the thoughtful one. God Q, you’ve solved just about all of my shit problems with one go. I was so worried about you spending time with Alice because I wanted you to myself, but I also wanted to be able to live in Fillory and not lose any minute of time with you. It was killing me, I thought you were staying away so it would be easier for me to leave.” Eliot said haltingly, then he pulled Quentin down so they were laying face to face on the couch. Quentin was frantically shaking his head at Eliot, whispering no, no, no over and over. Eliot shushed him and said with his full on regal proclamation tone, “There is no one I would rather grow old again with, than you Quentin Coldwater.”

Quentin grinned lovingly, rubbed his eyes and sniffed just the slightest bit, “There is no one I would rather have forever with, than you Eliot Waugh.” He kissed Eliot and wrapped his arms around him, enjoying the feel of his warmth pressed up against him.

Quentin had no idea how much time had passed, when Eliot suddenly exclaimed, “My god, are we even going to talk about what it was like hanging out with younger versions of ourselves. For fucks sake.”

Quentin nodded sagely and said, "Also soulmates, what the double fuck."

Both of them looked deeply into the others eyes, burst out laughing and thought what the fuck, we'll deal with it tomorrow. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Comments and Kudos are always <3'd and appreciated.
> 
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